Court date is set for Winehouse appeal

January 1, 2009 at 12:00a.m.

OSLO, Norway — British singer-songwriter Amy Winehouse has been summoned to appear in a Norwegian court Jan. 12 in her appeal against a fine in a drugs possession case, a police prosecutor said Wednesday.

Winehouse and her husband, Blake Fielder-Civil, were arrested in the western city of Bergen in October 2007 during a concert stop on charges of possessing 7 grams of marijuana. They were held overnight and released after paying fines of 3,000 kroner ($415) each.

The 25-year-old Winehouse later appealed the fine, claiming Norwegian police made mistakes in the case. An initial trial date in March 2008 was postponed at the request of her attorney.

Police prosecutor Rudolf Christoffersen says the star and her husband had been informed of the date by British police and will probably have to appear in person in the Bergen appeals court.

Winehouse’s Norwegian attorney, Ole Kvelstad, has said that payment of the fine amounted to a guilty plea, which he said could have serious consequences if she sought to enter the United States.

Playwright is buried

LONDON — Nobel Prize-winning playwright Harold Pinter has been buried in a London ceremony at a brief private funeral attended by family and friends.

About 50 people stood beneath a tree at Kensal Green Cemetery on Wednesday for the service on a cold, gray afternoon. Pinter died on Christmas Eve after a protracted battle with cancer.

The outspoken playwright had left instructions for the service, which included a reading from one of his plays by the actor Michael Gambon, a close friend.

The gravely ill Pinter had asked Gambon to read from “No Man’s Land” three months ago.

Pinter’s wife, the writer Lady Antonia Fraser, was present along with playwright Tom Stoppard and other luminaries.

Today’s birthdays

Author J.D. Salinger is 90. Actor Frank Langella is 71. Rock singer-musician Country Joe McDonald is 67. Rapper Grandmaster Flash is 51. Actress Ren Woods is 51. Actress Dedee Pfeiffer is 45. Actor Morris Chestnut is 40. Actor Verne Troyer is 40.